Raipur: School Education Minister Inaugurates ‘Learning’ Program in Surajpur District

Schools are closed to prevent infection of Kovid-19, to continue the education of children in such a situation, the school education minister Dr. Premasai Singh Tekam today launched the ‘Sikh’ program in Surajpur district online from his residence office. Through the learning program, innovative initiatives have been taken for children to learn in an entertaining and simple way with the participation of parents and the community. The learning program has been prepared under the joint aegis of the Department of School Education and UNICEF. Its program will be conducted by voluntary learning friends. The program is conducted in 10 districts of the state Raipur, Surajpur, Dantewada, Bastar, Narayanpur, Bijapur, Sukma, Jashpur, Dhamtari and Raigarh. It has been started in Surajpur district from Odgi and Pratappur development blocks in collaboration with Samarth Charitable Trust. More than 8 thousand young voluntary friends have been associated with this program.

Inaugurating the program, Minister Dr. Premasai Singh Tekam said that the learning program will definitely be helpful in providing education to children in areas where digital education is not accessible. This will enable gap filling of digital education. Minister Dr. Tekam said that the learning program will ensure continuity of learning for the children of classes I to X. Several steps have been taken by the state government for the continuation of children's education. He lauded the efforts of UNICEF and its associate organizations Samarth Charitable Trust and Prayag Seva Sansthan. Dr. Tekam said that the technical support of 'Room to Read' and 'Pratham' Books Institutes in this program is commendable. Parents and any other volunteers in the learning program who wish to help children learn will share the learning material through the WhatsApp group. It can be used with children at home or community level. As part of the Sikh program, there are more than 187 voluntary Sikh friends in the development block of Odgi in Surajpur district, who are helping to connect the children of 64 gram panchayats with the initiative of the Padhy Tuhan Duar program run by the School Education Department. The Learning Box helps voluntary learning friends to conduct various activities in language, mathematics, science and sports.

Head of UNICEF office in Chhattisgarh, Mr. Job Zacharia said that the State of Chhattisgarh has launched an innovative model 'Sikh' program in the country to ensure the learning of children at the community level. Under the Sikh program, there is a Sikh Mitra for each village, which ensures at least two hours a day of community level children's learning. Since the Sikh program is a program of digitally gap filling, Sikh Mitra acts as a bridge to a digital device. Teaching is imparted in local and tribal mother tongue. In view of the corona transition period, it is a powerful means of making education accessible to every child. Other states should also follow this.